An allegedly drunk police officer from the force mobile unit has killed a soldier identified as Donatus Vongkong, a warrant officer.
The soldier and the policeman are officers stationed at the palace of Abubakar El-Kanemi, the Shehu of Borno, to provide security services.
It was gathered that the armed police officer returned to the palace area around midnight after being drunk on Tuesday, a source disclosed.
According to the source, the police officer started “misbehaving” and the army officer who is in charge of the security unit at the palace had to intervene.
The source said, “Vonkong after noticing the attitude of the police officer, ordered that the policeman be disarmed but his policemen colleagues started begging that he would be fine.”
The source explained that “Vonkong agreed, and we thought the matter had been addressed. Suddenly, the policeman engaged his rifle and started shooting sporadically. It was while trying to get around him that a bullet hit Vonkong in the chest and he died immediately.”
“The situation almost led to a fight between the army and the police, sources said, but senior officers from both agencies quickly intervened.”
Another source also revealed that “There was a delegation of senior police officers from the command who immediately went to see the army’s theatre commander.
“The matter was going to escalate and this could lead to soldiers, in retaliation, opening fire on police officers. Several policemen immediately left their duty post in fear of a retaliatory attack.”
However, the police spokesperson in the state, Kamiludeen Sani, when contacted, could not immediately comment on the incident.
In 2012, Vongkong was single-handedly picked by the Shehu to serve as his chief of security when he reportedly saved the monarch from a suicide bomber.
It was gathered that El-Kanemi escaped the bomb explosion that went off immediately after Jumat prayers at a mosque in front of his palace. About 10 people died in the blast.
Vongkong who had noticed the suicide bomber moving close to the Shehu was said to have jumped to pull out the Shehu. The soldier also sustained an injury while ensuring the safety of the monarch.
Thank you for taking your time in reading through our Journal Today. We wish to always provide you with qualitative Stories as far as GOOD-JOURNALISM is CONCERN. But good journalism costs a lot of money and only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, accountability democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism, we ask you to consider subscribing to our daily news updates.
